Breast cancer survivors’ bra recycling campaign

The owners of a family-run shop in Goring have turned their breast cancer journeys into community-driven awareness by launching a bra bank.

Nikki Sharman, who runs Barbara’s Antique and Bric-a-Brac shop, in Wheel Orchard car park, discovered a tiny lump in her breast in 2011.

Now almost 60, having completed a 10-year personal and family journey battling the disease, she wants to help raise funds for breast cancer research.

Unwanted bras are brought into the shop and placed in a 3ft pink collection box to be recycled and be given a new lease of life.

For every tonne of bras collected in England, Scotland and Wales, the charity Against Breast Cancer, based in Abingdon, receives £700 to fund research into secondary spread.

Ms Sharman said: “I thought it was such a great idea and a great charity because it’s recycling and that’s what our shop is all about.

“Mums always walk in with their children and ask, ‘Why are you putting your bra in the box, Mummy’, so it’s creating complete awareness.”

Ms Sharman underwent an MRI scan at 40 years old, which revealed two different types of bilateral breast cancer.

She said: “I marked a cross on it before I went to the doctor because it was so small and difficult to find and they thought it was a cyst. But the MRI showed I had it in both breasts, so I was lucky to catch it early.”

Under the care of a specialist consultant, she underwent three lumpectomies and a complex therapeutic mammoplasty, which avoided having to go through chemotherapy.

A year later, her mother Maddy Bateman, 85, who owns the shop, was also diagnosed with breast cancer while she was caring for her daughter and her two grandsons, who were two and four at the time.

Both have had no recurrences of the cancer.

As she was over the standard age threshold for a routine NHS mammogram, she sought a private screening and underwent a single lumpectomy under the same consultant, also avoiding chemotherapy.

Ms Sharman said this strengthened their bond. “Exactly a year on my mum found out she had it,” she said. “Now, when she and I go for our mammogram checkup, we go together.

“I think somebody was looking over us for us to get those early warnings.”

Through genetic testing, Ms Sharman discovered that she carried the moderate-risk BRCA gene variant, also known as Cheque 2, inherited from her mother’s side of the family.

She said: “Ten years ago, I had to go down my family tree as far back as I could remember, including distant cousins, because we tested negative for the BRCA gene and had to see if anyone had cancer or not.

“The genealogy clinic in Oxford called me 10 years after about new research on more gene testing and it turned out I had one of the newly discovered genes which, after testing, showed it was from my maternal side.

“Mum had to then contact all of her family so they knew in advance and can have the gene tested.”

The variant only increased the risk of breast cancer but it is also associated with prostate cancer in men.

Ms Sharman’s brother has since been tested and is negative. Her sons will also need to test when they are older. When she was first diagnosed, a network of around eight women in the village, who were also diagnosed with breast cancer, became part of an informal support group.

Juliet Woodall, 53, a midwife who lives in Goring and is part of that group, inspired Nikki to introduce the bank in the second-hand shop.

She was diagnosed in 2012 at 39 years old and underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy but she is now clear.

She said: “I hate not being able to recycle stuff, so when I came across the Against Breast Cancer bra bank in Wallingford, when I was trying to get rid of my old ones, it seemed like a great idea.

“When we set up our own bank at the midwife unit in Oxford, it filled in around three weeks, so it seemed like a really good use of old bras.

“I knew Nikki’s shop would not only be the easiest place for people to access but it’s close to their hearts.”

One member, Mandy Barter, went on to found the charity My Cancer, My Choices, offering support to others navigating their own diagnoses.

“Breast cancer changed my life,” she said. “It gave me perspective, strength and an incredible community. If sharing my story encourages even one person to get checked, it’s worth it.

“A lot of people dread reaching 60 years old but I’m celebrating it so much because it’s a big one and I might not have got here but here I am.”